Night of stories
Steven Curtis Chapman show to feature range of instruments, tales
Looking for an unusual concert experience? Try Steven Curtis Chapman’s Songs & Stories Tour when it stops March 1 at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church.
Chapman, whose first album was released 25 years ago, and newer artists Andrew Peterson and Josh Wilson, share the stage, accompanying each other and playing a wide variety of instruments. As the title says, there will be stories.
“It’s not unusual for anyone who’s seen me in concert to hear me tell lots of stories around my songs,” Chapman said. But the aim for this show was to “really make the night focused around that and bring some artists that are great storytellers as well.”
He talked about the young artists who join him.
“Andrew Peterson is one of my favorite artists currently on the planet, one of my favorite songwriters. He’s just an amazing, great writer, great storyteller,” Chapman said.
“Josh Wilson is … a young guy, who is stylistically very different from Andrew but has a great way of bringing you into the story through a song,” Chapman added.
Chapman said the starting idea was, “That all of us would try to back each other up, be on stage for most of the night all together. As opposed to here’s this guy, here’s this guy, really make it sort of a community and one-for-all kind of thing.”
There will be a “real imaginative, creative spirit going on as we tell our stories,” Chapman said.
“Three guys and a band behind us. Great musicians, some of Nashville’s best ... playing all kinds of instruments. The guy at the keyboards is playing hammered dulcimers and glockenspiel and pump organ and piano. The bass player is playing upright bass and cello and ukulele bass and electric bass. The drummer’s got all kinds of percussion stuff.
“Then across the front, myself, Andrew and Josh are playing, swapping instruments back and forth, guitars, banjos, mandolins, ukuleles. Forty-seven instruments on stage at last count. We kind of attempt through the night to play at least one note on every thing that’s on stage.”
WIlson described the instrument swapping as “all kinds of fun things going on.”
Peterson added, “I think seeing Steven Curtis walk out and on the first song be playing a ukulele is hilarious and really sweet and a ton of fun. I think it sets the tone for the night.”
And one of the band members sharing those instruments is from Central.
Bass player Brent Milligan is a Baton Rouge native and LSU graduate who lives in Nashville.
Milligan said, “In my 18-year music career, this will be my first time playing in Louisiana, and it happens to be in Central, where I grew up. God’s sense of humor, I guess.”
Wilson said that he loves the variety. “It’s great for all ages. Between the three of us: the stories that are told, the songs that are sung, there something for everybody.”
He added, “All three of us
collaborate on stage together. We’re each our own artist, but we’ll play on each other’s songs and sing background vocals and sort of share the stage for a little bit.”
Sharing the stage was important to Chapman.
He was looking to do something different. It’s “20-25 years since my first album came out — since my first tour, 22-23 years — so I’ve done a lot and had a lot of amazing experiences: Different kinds of tours from me with guitar to me with full production big bands and trucks full of equipment. I always wanted to do something as a singer-songwriter kind of guy that I am at the core.
“We do something in Nashville a lot that we call writers nights or writers in the round where songwriters will sit in a semicircle. They’ll go down the line and tell a story and sing. It’s kind of a unique Nashville experience because it’s a songwriter-rich town and a song-rich town.
“So I’ve always had this thought, being a singer-songwriter and loving singer-songwriters as much as I do, that it would be cool to take that kind of experience on tour.”
The musicians have made that happen.
Peterson talked about how many time musicians say they want to play on each others pieces, but “then it doesn’t really happen. Everybody knows their own songs.”
But in this instance, he said, “I remember the very first day of rehearsal last year before the fall tour. I showed up with the band to work out some of my songs, and Steven walked in, and says, ‘Hey, I’ve got this mandolin part for ‘Dancing in the Minefields.’ What do you think about me playing on it?’
“And I was like, ‘Oh, wow, you really learned my song.’
“The same thing was true with Steven’s songs. Josh Wilson and I both learned stuff to play on Steven’s songs and get to sing on them. It’s definitely Steven’s shows, but we all get to join in the fun.”